   <h1> Quick Tips </h1>

   <p>
   This page describes some short tips that can help you use Misfit Model 3D
   more effectively.
   </p>

   <h2> General Modeling Tips </h2>

   <ul>
      <li> <b>Properties Panel</b> -- Some parts of a 3D model will have
      modifiable properties that can be changed through dialog boxes or the
      Properties Panel.  The Properties Panel is a context-sensitive dockable
      window that displays modifiable properties for the selected portion of
      the 3D model.  Using the Properties Panel may be more convenient than
      using tools, commands, or dialog boxes to accomplish some tasks. Select
      "View&nbsp;|&nbsp;Show&nbsp;Properties" to use the Properties Panel.
      </li>
      <li> <b>Background Images</b> -- When creating a model, it is sometimes
      helpful to have a 2D image for reference to help with getting the shape
      or scale of some object correct. You can project a 2D image into any
      viewport using
      <a href="olh_backgroundwin.html">Model&nbsp;|&nbsp;Select&nbsp;Background&nbsp;Image</a>.
      </li>
      <li> <b>Snap to Grid/Vertex</b> -- Use <a href="olh_tools.html#snapto">
      "Tools&nbsp;|&nbsp;Snap&nbsp;To&nbsp;|&nbsp;Grid" and
      "Tools&nbsp;|&nbsp;Snap&nbsp;To&nbsp;|&nbsp;Vertex"</a> to help align the
      current tool with the grid lines and existing vertices.  </li>
      <li> <b>Drag Vertex</b> -- Use <a href="olh_tools.html#dragvertex">Drag
      vertex on edge</a> to move a vertex along one of the triangle edges it is
      connected to.
      The tool will attempt to follow the edge that is closest to the mouse.</li>
      <li> <b>Edge Turn</b> -- If two triangle form a concave angle when you
      want a convex angle (or vice-versa), use
      <a href="olh_commands.html#edgeturn">Edge turn</a>. See the link for an
      example of when this is useful. </li>
      <li> <b>Extrude</b> -- Use "Extrude" to take a set of faces and extend it
      out from the object it is connected to. There is a 
      <a href="olh_commands.html#extrude">geometry command version</a> and a
      <a href="olh_commands.html#extrude">tool version</a>.</li>
      <li> <b>Shift Key</b> -- Some tools modify their behavior if you hold the
      shift key while using them. For example, the move tool will operate only
      in one dimension and the rotate tool will rotate in 15 degree increments.
      Often these behaviors are noted in the status bar when you change tools.
      Any special behavior of the shift key for a tool will be described in the
      <a href="olh_tools.html">tool documentation</a> </li>
      <li> <b>Face Out</b> -- Triangles/faces only reflect light off of one
      side. If the dark side of a triangle is facing out toward the camera, you
      need to invert the normal of the triangle to reverse the direction it
      faces. If an enclosed 3D shape has some triangles facing in and some
      facing out, you can select the entire shape and use
      <a href="olh_commands.html#faceout">Geometry&nbsp;|&nbsp;Normals&nbsp;|&nbsp;Normals&nbsp;face&nbsp;out</a>
      to correct any faces that are wrong. This can be easier than manually
      selecting faces and inverting them. Note that this only works if the
      faces are part of a complete, enclosed 3D shape.</li>
      <li> <b>Snap Together</b> -- You can use <a
      href="olh_commands.html">Snap&nbsp;Together</a> to make nearby vertices
      align themselves. Optionally you can have them weld into a single vertex.
      This operation can work on all selected vertcies, or pairs of nearby
      vertices.</li>
   </ul>

   <h2> Viewports </h2>

   <ul>
      <li> <b>Swith to Orthographic</b> -- You may only use selection and
      modification tools in orthographic projections. If you see something in a
      3D perspective projection that looks wrong and you are not sure which
      faces or vertices to select from an orthographic viewport, you can switch
      the perspective viewport into an orthographic viewport from the same
      angle by pressing the the left quote/backtick key (`).</li>
      <li> <b>Rotate 180</b> -- The Backslash key (\) will rotate the viewport
      180 degrees so that you are looking at the opposite side of the
      object in your viewport.</li>
      <li> <b>Pan</b> -- Click and drag the middle mouse button in a viewport
      to pan. You can also use the arrow keys to pan any viewport that is
      highlighted with mouse focus.</li>
      <li> <b>Zoom</b> -- Use the vertical scroll wheel or the plus/minus keys
      to zoom in or out. </li>
      <li> <b>Rotate</b> -- Use Ctrl + scroll wheel or Ctrl + plus/minus keys
      to rotate the viewport around the viewing axis. </li>
      <li> <b>Save/Restore View Angle</b> -- Pressing Ctrl + &lt;Number Key
      1-9&gt; will save the current rotation and zoom level of the highlighted
      viewport. Pressing the number key alone will recall the saved position
      and rotation. Pressing 0 will center the viewport on the origin. </li>
      <li> <b>Frame Selected/All</b> -- Use "View&nbsp;|&nbsp;Frame&nbsp;Selected" or
      "View&nbsp;|&nbsp;Frame&nbsp;All" to and zoom your viewport on the
      object of interest (note that this changes all viewports).</li>
   </ul>

   <h3> Texturing </h3>

   <ul>
      <li> <b>Texture Groups</b> -- To apply textures to geometry, the faces/triangles must be part
      of a group. The texture is then applied to the group. </li>
      <li> <b>Texture Projections</b> -- Texture unwrapping is not supported, but using cylinder and 
      sphere <a href="olh_projectiondetails.html">texture projections</a>
      in addition to <a href="olh_painttexturewin.html">paint texture</a> may
      give you a good starting point for applying textures. </li>
      <li> <b>Reload Textures</b> -- If you are modifying your textures in a
      paint program, you can reload the model textures without restarting by
      selecting the &quot;Reload&nbsp;Textures&quot; option in the Materials
      menu. </li>
   </ul>

   <h3> Animations </h3>

   <ul>
      <li> <b>Prefer Skeletal Animations</b> -- Skeletal animations tend to be
      easier to work with than frame animations. For model formats that require
      frame (mesh deformation) animations--such as the quake formats--it is
      best to create skeletal animations and then convert those animations to
      frame animations before exporting to the desired format.
      </li>
      <li> <b>Setting Keyframes</b> -- Keyframes are automatically created when
      you move or rotate a joint.  If you want to create a keyframe without
      rotating or moving, use the &quot;Set Rotation/Translation Keyframe&quot;
      options.
      </li>
      <li> <b>Prefer Rotation Keyframes</b> -- Beginners sometimes try to move
      the joints instead of rotating.  Use rotation on the bone joints to
      animate your model instead of translation (think about how you move your
      own arms and legs).
      </li>
      <li> <b>Set starting and ending keyframes</b> -- It is a good idea to set
      a keyframe in the first and last frame of an animation for every joint
      that will be animated during the animation. This will give you more
      predictable results regardless of whether the animation is looping or
      not. </li>
   </ul>

   <h3> Alpha Blending </h3>

   <ul>
      <li> <b>Backfacing Polygons</b> -- When working with transparent textures
      on a model, keep in mind that back-facing polygons are often not rendered
      by various rendering engines. Typically you will want to render
      back-facing polygons when you are modeling. However you can disable
      back-facing polygons from the View menu if you want to see what your
      model will look like.</li>
      <li> <b>Offset Co-planar Triangles</b> -- Since triangles only render
      facing one direction, transparent triangles are sometimes doubled so that
      they are rendered properly when viewed from both directions.  If these
      triangles are exactly co-planar you may see rendering artifacts that
      cause part of the triangle that should be rendered to be obscured. To
      prevent this, put a slight gap between the co-planar triangles.</li>
   </ul>

   <h3> Importing and Exporting </h3>

   <ul>
      <li> <b>Work in MM3D Format</b> -- Some supported file formats do not mix well with the way MM3D
      stores data internally. When working with 3D models on a regular
      basis it is often a good idea to save in MM3D format and then use
      &quot;File&nbsp;|&nbsp;Export&quot; to save in your desired format
      when you have something completed. There are many more exportable
      formats than save formats.</li>
      <li> <b>Import Animations</b> -- You can use &quot;Model&nbsp;|&nbsp;Import&nbsp;Animations&quot;
      to load animations from another model with an identical skeletal
      structure. The skeleton will be checked to make sure that the
      parent/child joint relationships are correct. The position and rotation
      of the joints will not be checked, but if they are not identical the
      results of the import will probably not be what you expect.
      </li>
      <li> <b>Model Merge</b> -- You can use &quot;Model&nbsp;|&nbsp;Merge&quot;
      to import another model into the current one. There are options for
      scaling and rotating as well as how to deal with animations.
      The merge feature can be useful if you have frame animations in your
      model, since adding and deleting geometry in general is not allowed
      in that case.
      </li>
      <li> <b>Format-Specific Notes</b> -- Some model export formats have special considerations that you must
      keep in mind when you are working with them. See the links below for
      details.
      <ul>
         <li> <a href="olh_quakemd2.html">Quake MD2</a> </li>
         <li> <a href="olh_quakemd3.html">Quake MD3</a> </li>
         <li> <a href="olh_cal3d.html">Cal3D</a> </li>
      </ul>
   </ul>

   <h3> Advanced </h3>

   <ul>
      <li> <b>Boolean Operations</b> -- Use
      <a href="olh_boolwin.html">Boolean&nbsp;operations</a> to modify one 3D
      object based on the shape of another 3D object.  Boolean operations can
      combine two shapes into one, subtract the volume of one shape from
      another, or find the common volume between two shapes. After
      using a boolean operation you may want to use 
      <a href="olh_commands.html#simplifymesh">Simplify Mesh</a> to combine
      some newly created faces.</li>
      <li> <b>Custom Keyboard Shortcuts</b> -- It is possible to customize most
      menu shortcuts. There is no graphical user interface to do this, but
      you can edit a file called keycfg.in in the $(HOME)/.mm3d subdirectory
      (on Win32 this is userhome in the Misfit Model 3D Program Files
       directory).  Simply specify the name of the function you want to bind
      and then the key combination you want to bind it to.  See keycfg.out in
      the same directory for the current bindings.  Anything you do not
      specify in your keycfg.in will use the default setting.</li>
   </ul>

